Kate Middleton, Prince William To Talk To Facebook, Twitter About Tackling Cyber Bullying
Kate Middleton and Prince William are going to try and tackle cyber-bullying by meeting some of the bosses at Facebook and Twitter to discuss ways to help people that are harassed on the world wide web.
The Sunday Times have reported that the Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge are planning to hold talks with executives at various social media companies so that they can address and “crack the issue” of cyber-bullying.
This will include Kate and William meeting up with people at Facebook and Twitter to start a “constructive dialogue” over how youngsters can be protected from online bullying and harassment.
A royal aide explained to the publication, “The duke definitely wants to meet them and hear what they think can be done, what needs to change and what he can do to help. It’s an area that’s being explored.”
The insider explained that the pair have become more and more concerned with this subject since the birth of their two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. At the ages of 2-years-old and six months, respectively, they are still a few years away from the Internet becoming a permanent fixture in their lives. But, it will at some point.
It’s believed that Prince William has already held discussions at an informal level with a variety of technology companies, and this has only increased his desire to help out and to prevent people from being hurt.
Prince William and Kate Middleton are thought to be hugely concerned about the feedback they have received from young people who have been the victims of cyber-bullying.
Over the last few months the married pair have been on a huge push to try and assist people who suffer at the hands of bullies and those who have mental health problems.
In fact, over the course of this month, Kate Middleton and Prince William have been visiting numerous charities that have anti-bullying campaigns, while they’ve also used their influence to throw their weight behind and endorse mental health charities.
The Mental Health Foundation recently released statistics that proved anxiety and depression among teenagers has increased by 70 percent over the last 25 years. Experts have insisted that the reason for this increase is due in part to the hike in use of computers and mobile phones.
It seems that Kate Middleton and Prince William’s rather hectic schedule means that this meeting with social media heads is going to take place in the new year, though.
Back in 2013, Kate Middleton spoke at a conference run by a children’s mental health charity where she revealed that she was the victim of bullying that was so severe that she had to move schools.
Speaking about the Duchess’ participation at the first annual Resilience and Emotional Strength In Schools Forum, which is run by the charity Place2Be, Professor Tanya Byron, who talked to Middleton, explained, “She was very interested in the early years, nought to five year olds, which I guess is because she’s a new mother but also because she’s interested.”
“She was at an engagement yesterday and they mentioned sexting [the exchange of sexual images on mobile phones]. She was interested in what we do and my colleagues’ work on addiction.
“She has given us such a seal of approval in a very public manner, from a woman who is loved by the public and has become a mother herself.
“She wants to support us, it’s like a gift. She’s a very bright woman. At one point when I was speaking she was telling the person she was with ‘I hope you’re writing this down’.
“It’s not just a fly in and fly out. You can see this means something to her.”
[Photo by David Cheskin – WPA Pool/Getty Images]
